MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

4/8 Wrigley talks continue

It was Opening Day at Wrigley Field on Monday, and may be the last one before the Cubs begin a $300 million renovation plan at the ballpark. The Cubs are still waiting for approval from the city regarding changes they want to make, and negotiations are ongoing. Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said Monday they are moving forward but wouldn’t set a deadline for a decision.

“I’m not going to put a timeframe around it because there’s a public part of the process that has to happen,” Ricketts said. “We look forward to getting the public part of the process started.”

There will apparently be public hearings regarding some of the issues, such as parking in the Wrigleyville neighborhood. Ricketts said he wasn’t sure what the objections were, but said they are “sensitive to things that affect the neighbors, we want to be responsive to issues the neighbors have.”

The Cubs also want more flexibility in terms of scheduling their games. There’s a long list of items to be finalized before work can begin.

“I’m optimistic,” Ricketts said. “I think everything is headed in the right direction. … We’re working under the assumption that everyone is working toward getting this done as soon as possible and moving forward.”

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